Exploring wearin and wearout in web advertising: The role of repetition and brand familiarity

One of the most researched variables in advertising is repetition. Due to its theoretical and practical importance, repetition has received substantial attention from researchers. However, on the web, there has been little empirical evidence as to how repetition affects advertising effectiveness. This research reports an experiment that examined the effects of repetition and brand familiarity in the web advertising environment. The participants were exposed to 1 of 12 experimental conditions via the web. The results showed that while repetition had weak main effects across the dependent variables, it interacted with brand familiarity on attitudes and purchase intention. Polynomial trend analyses also identified the potential wearin and wearout patterns as a function of repetition when the brand was unfamiliar, but not when the brand was familiar.